Plotter Issues

[PEinVA]

I'm not sure if this an AutoCAD issue or more a plotter issue. Our in house plotter (HP430 DesignJet, is old I know, but we just use it for test prints) and we are having issues with a few sheets that won't print out completely, they will either leave off the title block or random sections. I don't believe it is a memory issue because these sheets don't appear to have anything in common.

Any ideas on what can be the culprit? It appears to start on one computer, but then that file is forever like that.

this is killing our CAD guy and I'm trying to help him out!

RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

 

[ProDraftsman]

First make sure all the layers that you want to print are on. Make sure in your layer manager that none of the layers are set to 'do not plot' mainly the layer that the titleblock is on. Make sure the ctb. file is correct. Plot the preview and in the preview it should show up on the screen as to how its going to plot. Also if its leaving something off in your plot screen select window and outline a window around the titleblock. Its important to make sure all the layers are set the way you want. It could also be a setting in your ctb. files.

 

[cherrypicker]

You may also want to set your plotter with "Print directly to the printer" in your printer preferences as spooling can cause eratic plots in large jobs.

cherrypicker

 

[PEinVA]

ProDraftsman,
The preview shows the print fine.

cherrypicker,
We've tried doing it both ways and still didn't work, but I'll just run through it again one more time.


Could this be an issue with memory?

RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

 

[zdas04]

Print it into Adobe and look to see if the problem is with generating the print of if it is a plotter problem.

David

 

[PEinVA]

Sorry I should have stated that we print PDFs they are fine on screen, but have similar issues on the plotter.

I guess it is a plotter issue then huh?

RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

 

[zdas04]

If AutoCad can put all the lines in the .pdf, I'd say that the plotter is broke.

David

 

[PEinVA]

It prints 95% of files correctly. It is a handful of files, that don't share things in common, that cause this behavior.

RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

 

[bagarbilla]

If printing is causing problems with PDF, that PDF reader showing full drawing but half of it is not printing. i had the same problem i used a other pdf reader (other than from Adobe) (Foxit as i remember the name correctly) and drawing printed fine.

 

[chicopee]

rcraine, I am confused now. Are pyou lotting .pdf files or .dwg/dxf files

 

[PEinVA]

Both.

The issue is with either one. But it started with the CAD file, so then we tried printing a PDF and the same issues.

Any ideas?

RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

 

[TCARPENTER1]

Hi RCraine,

Since it's happening with both PDF and plots, you might check the drawing itself. It almost sounds as though you have some entities on a non-plotting layer.

HTH
Todd

 

[PEinVA]

Thanks for the comments TCRPENTER1, however this is not the issue. The same titleblock will print no problems on other files, and on all the same layers.

Could this be a memory issue on the plotter?

RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

 

[TCARPENTER1]

Not if you're having the same issue with both PDF and your plotter.

Any chance you can post the file that's giving you the grief?

 

[PEinVA]

The PDF print looks fine on screen.

But it prints the same from the plotter, if it is a PDF or a .dwg file.

If we send it to the printing place by us, they print it no problem.

I'm guessing no one else has run into similar issues.

RC
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

 

[TCARPENTER1]

Ooohhh. Sorry, I didn't understand that part.

It could be a memory issue but it could also be a driver issue. Make sure you have the latest and greatest drivers, I've seen plotters drop info before and it does usually boil down to a driver being out of date or not liking the OS it's working on. It may also not like being sent across the network, it's possible your network is dropping packets, or the print queue itself is having issues. If you can, try hooking the plotter directly to a PC/Laptop and try the plot that way. This will at least narrow it down for you.

HTH
Todd